Saturday, March 7, 2009

Here's a little tidbit I made up to go along with the tulip cardigan. The parents of this baby are supposedly not into frou-frou girly things, so I tried to come up with a hat that had some flexibility. On the one hand, the cardigan seems to call for a 30's-style cloche or helmet, which of course needs an oversized, stylized flower. On the other hand, frou-frou-free parents may object to the flower. Hence the solution:

A removable flower. If they want this baby to sport a pared-down, tailored hat, they can, and if not, they can attach the flower for some frou.

With circular needles, cast on 84 (88, 92) stitches in brown (color A). Being careful not to twist, join to knit circularly, and work 4 rounds of k1, p1 rib. Break yarn and join tan (color C). Knit one round. Break yarn and join green (MC). Work 2 inches in seed stitch (*k1, p1 in round one, *p1, k1 in round two), adding one stitch at the end of the first seed stitch round so that you can just mindlessly go around and around over an odd number of stitches. Break yarn and join tan (color C). Knit one round. Break yarn and join brown (color A).

Work in stockinette (all knit) until piece measures 4 (5, 5) inches. In next round, decrease by 1 (increase by 2, decrease by 2) stitches randomly in round to get a multiple of 7 stitches. 84 (91, 91) stitches. In next round, place a marker after every 12th (13th, 13th) stitch. In the next round, begin decreasing as follows:

Repeat these two rows until there are six stitches between each marker. Switch to double-pointed needles when it gets too tight. Then work decreases every row instead of every other. When there are 2 stitches between each marker, break yarn and thread through all stitches, dropping markers as you do so. Pull tight to draw together stitches.

Weave in ends and block. Sew one pretty large button to center of green band, at a jaunty place on the side of the hat.

Flower:

With double-pointed needles, CO 68 stitches in pink (color B). Join carefully to work in round, being careful to avoid twisting. Work in stockinette (all knit) until work measures 1.5 inches. K2tog across round, break yarn, and thread through all stitches. Pull to draw together, but leave a big enough hole in the middle to fit around your button. Knot yarn to keep from loosening up again, weave in ends and block.

Megan, I'd say, measure around your head (or the head of the person you're knitting it for, and multiply that number by your gauge. There's also a chart of standard head sizes here: http://www.yarnstandards.com/headsize.html

Just like altering any pattern for a different weight yarn, you'd have to adjust for gauge. Here the gauge is 6 stitches per inch, but with worsted it might be 5 stitches per inch. So if my instructions for the smallest size say to cast on 84 stitches, 84/6 is 14 inches. 14x5 is 70 -- that's the number you'd need to cast on in your gauge.

I have been LONG looking for a KNIT flower- since I can't crochet a flower to save my life. Will this really pucker to look like a flower if it's just stockinette? You didn't do anything different to make the ridges? Do you have any other ideas for knit flowers?